Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-7cz98 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-20T09:06:57.077Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The interplay between comparative concepts and descriptive categories (Reply to Newmeyer)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2026

Martin Haspelmath
Martin Haspelmath*
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
*
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Deutscher Platz 6 D-04105 Leipzig, Germany, [haspelmath@eva.mpg.de]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'

Information

Type
Discussion
Information
Language , Volume 86 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 696 - 699
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 Linguistic Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Chomsky, Noam. 1981. Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Di Sciullo, Anna Maria, and Williams, Edwin. 1987. On the definition of word. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Dryer, Matthew S. 1988. Object-verb order and adjective-noun order: Dispelling a myth. Lingua 74. 185–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dryer, Matthew S. 2006. Descriptive theories, explanatory theories, and basic linguistic theory. Catching language: The standing challenge of grammar writing, ed. by Ameka, Felix K., Dench, Alan, and Evans, Nicholas, 207–34. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Givón, Talmy. 1980. The binding hierarchy and the typology of complements. Studies in Language 4. 333–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1963. Some universals of grammar with particular reference to the order of meaningful elements. Universals of language, ed. by Greenberg, Joseph H., 73–113. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 2005. Argument marking in ditransitive alignment types. Linguistic Discovery 3.1.1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 2008. A frequentist explanation of some universals of reflexive marking. Linguistic Discovery 6.1.40–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 2010. Comparative concepts and descriptive categories in crosslinguistic studies. Language 86. 663–87.Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 2011. The indeterminacy of word segmentation and the nature of morphology and syntax. Folia Linguistica, to appear.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keenan, Edward L. 1976. Towards a universal definition of ‘subject’. Subject and topic, ed. by Li, Charles N., 303–33. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Newmeyer, Frederick J. 2010. On comparative concepts and descriptive categories: A reply to Haspelmath. Language 86. 688–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar